With the twenty sixteen legislative session in full gear and over eighteen hundred
bills filed there are
a few topics that have been left unturned criminal justice reform seem to be some
of the issues getting considerable attention designed to help individuals who have
made a mistake in their lives get
a second chance to integrate into society reform such as banning the box have been
gaining nationwide momentum will discuss the concept of banning the box with
today's guest who is sponsoring legislation to bring the concept statewide to
agencies of the state government if bills are being debated on the floor of the
house in the Senate it's likely that
a number of those have come with public controversy so it should be no surprise
then that there been legislation introduced related to controversies ranging from
the widespread possession of guns in society to the changing technology and how we
hail taxicabs using Gruber our guest today will discuss some of these bills and
what the likelihood is of their becoming law with the sixty day session half over
the time is close for the legislature to make some tough decisions on the budget
tax cuts and
a new gaming compact these are complex issues that have fervent supporters and
opponents on both sides we'll explore where the legislature stands right now and
what direction it looks like they may go these issues and more when we return with
State Representative Bobby Powell on this edition of politically speaking.
Welcome back I'm Todd bungler and host of Politically. Speaking the television
program that allows us to discuss issues with our state federal and locally elected
officials we're joined in the studio today by vice chair of the Palm Beach County
legislative delegation State Representative Bobby Powell Jr represented power it's
great to have you're in the studio with us today well Todd it's very good in I'm
very excited to be here with you in the studio and I would like to thank you and
everyone else for allowing me this opportunity to discuss some of the legislation
that we're working on In Session with you absolutely and I appreciate you carving
a little time in your busy schedule I know we're in the thick of session right now
there's
a lot of issues you and your colleagues are working on in Tallahassee I know that
some of those issues are mainly in the area of criminal justice and that's been an
area that you've been laser focused in your career why is it that this area has
a special place in your heart and you've spent so much time focusing on criminal
justice issues Well that's
a good question. I believe in the district that I serve as well as throughout the
state of Florida that
a lot of people get caught up in the criminal justice system which prevents them
from having the opportunity to work freely and to become contributing members of
society so it's been
a focus of mine to kind of believe it or mitigate some of those issues so that when
people have served their time have paid their debt to society able to come back and
become contributing members of the population we like to use this term experiments
but when we do that when someone's an ex felon we need to give them
a new lease on life when they get back out not to say well you committed
a crime or you were convicted of something in the past so that's going to
stigmatize you for the rest of your life and not allow you to contribute Yeah you
know there's
a concept that has been going nationwide we're hearing more and more of and it's
called Band the box and it's an issue that we've been hearing
a lot locally in the state of Florida can you explain to our viewers what the
concept and what banning the box means well it's really simple. When you ban the
box there's
a check box on many many applications that. People who are trying to be employed
fill out and that check boxes have you ever been convicted of a crime of
a crime or do you have
a criminal history and by checking that bugs it automatically checks some of the
members who could contribute to society out of the job applicant pool and we're
simply asking that we get rid of that box on
a lot of applications to allow people to get to the interview process so that they
can talk about their skills and the things that they contribute before being pushed
out of the process to give them another lease on life because if someone has
a job then it doesn't push them back into
a life of crime and so last year President Barack Obama proposed
a ban on the box for federal agencies for employment Rob each county followed suit
shortly thereafter and did the same with our agencies in the county here you have
legislation that you file now that looks to do that on
a statewide level can you talk
a little bit about that and how you think that would affect applications and which
particular areas of the state absolutely this is an issue that has been brought to
me by many many community groups the National Employment Law Project has done
studies that show that when you increase the opportunity for people to get
a job or take that box off the application it allows them to get to the interview
and be based on the interview to be based on what they have to offer. Backgrounds
are so it doesn't eliminate
a background check it's basically my bill. Follow suit more than one hundred
municipalities and one thousand different states that have considered this type of
legislation Florida would join that if we were to move this legislation but as I'm
indicating this bill has been narrowed in focus it's sponsored by. On the House in
the house and then on the Senate side we are sponsored by Senator Jeff Clemens but
what it does is take that box off
a public employment applications meaning that if it's
a government agency or any public employers who will be employing people they don't
ask that question but it does not say that you don't you know do
a background check on these people and you don't check into it once they make it to
the end if you are they get to the second stage in the process it simply gives them
the opportunity to get there so that's where we're moving with this bandbox
legislation and it's been gaining traction nationwide the state of Florida still
hasn't really caught up in terms of what we need to do to get people working you
know another issue that we're seeing attention nationwide is that of the use of
excessive police force Palm Beach County was in the national news not long ago with
the death of Cory Jones and from that we've seen the call for many law enforcement
officers and agencies to implement using body cameras on their law enforcement
officers you filed some legislation are co-sponsoring
a bill dealing with body cameras on law enforcement officers what have you seen
from an evidence perspective that makes you think that body cameras will change the
way either the public interacts with law enforcement or vice versa the way law
enforcement interacts with the public. It's very important that we move on this
legislation because what I've seen nationwide is that there is an overwhelming cry
. And there's been a movement in
a number of different movements related to on our. African-American males
being either shot by police officers or not having answers to questions and so it's
significant that we request and require body cameras police officers for two
reasons one. It gets rid of this idea of this burden of proof that you know no
one was there so you know it's a person who's Did word against
a police officer or anyone else and it also provides protection for police officers
because it's not always one way you know there are incidents where police officers
are also being you know in. And it's internal where they're
being charged are they're being verbally tagged and they don't have proof so this
is basically a body camera. Video evidence pictures worth
a thousand words but if you put it in video as worth many many more so. What it
does is it gets rid of this subjective theory and then you actually have proof it
doesn't mean that it's one hundred percent going to work yet but it's
a step in the right direction you know represent power
a big issue was talking about guns and the use of force is one that's been in the
legislature and that's related to the open carry of guns in the state of Florida
the bill moved to the House of Representatives the Florida Sheriffs Association as
a been opposed to this measure what do you think will be the effects of this law it
becomes the law of the state it's a good question
a lot of us are nervous because we don't know the effects that would happen here in
the state of Florida we as
a state are known for our tourism industry and. Some of us are worried that we
become labeled as what they call the guns in the state that may prevent
a lot of people from wanting to come to Florida you know and it's also it ties into
this idea of stand your ground you know there's unknown there's answers and there
are variables that we can't necessarily predict but what I can tell you is if
a person is Gehring carrying
a weapon and you know they're carrying the weapon on their waist and you get into
altercation or an argument let's not say an alter cation you get an argument or
a person for example gets an argument with someone who's carrying their weapon
openly does that mean that they feel threatened and then they can go back and grab
their weapon and gun that person down or just
a person who's openly carry only carry openly carrying feel nervous or threatened
and pull that weapon and shoot someone it's there's
a lot of things that are unanswered and we become
a little bit nervous when we start. You know opening up Pandora's box with this
well we'll see definitely how that issue plays out over the remainder of session.